Bye bye Miss American Pie

[rhiannon_black]

Quote of the day: Thus in winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more. (What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why (Sonnet XLIII), Edna St. Vincent Millay)

Hard to believe but it's been over a month since I've posted anything here. I've meant to, just haven't gotten around to it. I'm wasting far too much time over at Facebook, playing games. Vampires, for Christ's sake. I'm playing vampires! Why? I don't know.

Art Jewelry has an article on shibuichi. Bought the issue, haven't read the article yet. Did a little web searching. Reactive Metals wants something like $4.62 a square inch for 24 gauge 25% shibuichi. Shit. I've got to get into the shibuichi business. That's some nice markup.

I've been playing with foldforming some rings and bracelets. I linefolded some copper and thought, well, it's nice but it needs something. So started linefolding some sterling to back it with. That shibuichi article got me thinking. Sterling is dull, reticulation silver is too pissy and brittle (and why foldform it anyway), brass and "bronze" are boring, brass especially. Gold is only for the big kids. Oh, but shibuichi, shibuichi would be so pretty coupled with the copper. The patina options are intriguing and--almost--endless.

But $4.62 a square inch! In what universe?

The jewelry-only exhibition is fast approaching. We actually got paperwork to sign, big girl paperwork, for insurance purposes. I have a case that 27 x 15 x 8 (length, depth, height, in inches). Better than I thought all those months ago.

We're not getting a reception.

What else?

Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist has an article on texturing (I believe). What caught my eye was the photo of the chasing tools/punches/stamps. Some really amazing ones. The article mentioned three companies as sources for the tools. Only the one seems promising. I've ordered their catalogues and hope to receive them soon. Of the other tool companies, pretty dull stuff. The one has endless numbers of letter stamps. Whoa, hold me back. And the other was just embarrassingly paltry.

One of the girls taking Jewelry (she took class last term as well), Brittany, wandered over to my spot a couple weeks ago and started asking questions. She quickly became quite smitten with foldforming. I showed her Brain's webpages and also the Ganoksin Project. She said she was going home that very night and ordering copper. She didn't come in to class last week, so I've yet to find out if she's still infected with foldformititus. I do hope so.

We had 10 or eleven nights of hard freeze last month, almost back to back. There was one night in there, after the first five, where the low did not get down to freezing or below. Then it was back to hard freeze. And this was serious hard freeze. Often, we were below freezing well before midnight. I remember leaving BAM (not by the Haunted Walmart, the other one) one night around 8:30. It was already 28 degrees. There was ice in the parking lot. Ice. At eight thirty at night. I did not look up. I'm sure pigs were flying.

I hope the vetiver survived. I don't know about the butterfly ginger. It was knocked all the way down but it's pretty annoying and probably has only suffered a brief setback in its plans for world domination. The comfrey nearby is perfectly happy.

The grass looks rather sere. But the cleavers is happily crossing the lawn, just as it does every year.

The roses look fine.

aspenlight came out with a wonderful, sad chapter of A Family Like None Other. My only complaint is that it takes too long between chapters. It's hard to complain when the writing is so wonderful and the story so compelling but there you are. I'm a selfish, greedy woman and I want what I want when I want it. And I want more, now. Snape breaks my heart with his steadfast love for Harry.

Snape's jawline spasmed. "I regret every bit of that now, and not just because it stands between us. I deeply regret that I ever hurt you, Harry, because . . .

Perhaps sensing that Snape needed more privacy, Dumbledore silently rose from his chair and slipped away.

"Because I love you," finished Snape in a quiet voice.

Harry could guess what saying that out loud had cost a man with Snape's massive pride, but not even that could make it easier to take words like that from him. And yet for once he didn't want to lash out and hurt Snape. He just wanted rid of the whole situation.

"I know,"  said Harry, reaching up to swipe at his face when he realised it was damp. "I figured that out. But it doesn't matter, sir. I don't want you to love me. And . . . and . . . well, if you do, then . . . then do something for me. Don't say it again." Harry abruptly stood up. "I guess I can come down tonight to get my cloak if you promise not to make me come in and talk to you first."

I just love Harry realizing that his face was "damp." Ah, yes, "dampness." I've experienced "dampness" before.

lomonaaeren is working on a wonderful Severitus, well, maye a Severitus. So far, it lacks Lupin but otherwise it's pretty classic. And she hasn't claimed to be answering the challenge. But it's wonderful nonetheless. But what can you expect from lomonaaeren . She is an amazing writer.

Chania has wandered into the studio a couple of times lately and we've had some good talks. She understands some of my family issues having similar ones herself. She too is, apparently, too stupid to even breathe on her own and yet, she's the only one her mother trusts to handle her finances.

Hmmmm, funny thing that.

Arizona caught and killed her first mouse. At least the first I know of. She caught one before and tried to bring it to me to play with but I was less than, um, well, let's just say I was nonplussed and leave it at that. Moti eventually re-caught the mouse and having a history of me taking her live playthings away from her, made with all alacrity for parts elsewhere. Arizona, having learned from the experience, kept her mouse elsewhere. I could hear the frantic squeaks. Tuesday morning I found the carcass, intact, without visible signs of injury, on the living room floor. I presume she annoyed the thing to death. Mousey is now resting in a shallow grave in the garbage cart. R.I.P., Mousey. 

Let's see. I've read the Charlaine Harris Southern Vampire series. I have the book of short stories that came out in the fall but have yet to read them. I picked up a number of the Dresden File books and read several and will eventually go back. I got sidetracked by Kim Harrison's The Hollows books about Rachel Morgan and her band of intrepid buds. I'm enjoying them pretty wall. Tend to read them only when I'm at the laundry waiting on wash but there you are. I should learn though. I've discovered that Kisten is gonna die. And then gonna really die. And I'm none too pleased about that. I like Kisten. Tant pis!